Personalized Learning
How will digital learning replace print?
A consultant working for an instructional materials vendor called today to discuss market dynamics around the shift from print to digital. We discussed eight forces of change: 1. Cheap access devices. When I was a superintendent, laptops were $2500; now you can get a more powerful netbook for a…
Personalized Learning
Rocketship takes off
Rocketship Education was a prize winner at CSGF‘s Innovation Competition last month (I served as ajudge). My friend Gisele Huff has been trying to get me to visit them for years because of their interesting blended model that incorporates online learning. The first school of San Jose nonprofit is in the…
Personalized Learning
Transitional times
We’re in between times—in between print and digital and in between age cohorts and personalized learning. I visited with two very different groups today, both making the best of the old model. The first group writes software for smartboards—they automated the overhead. I’m not a fan…
Personalized Learning
Bloomberg lays out exciting charter vision
Bloomberg’s Plan lays out an exciting vision for 100 more NYC charters including new Children’s Zones in Brookly and the South Bronx. He asks for chancellor chartering authority (and having recently completed the NYC DOE review, I can vouch for the rigor of the process). He also…
Personalized Learning
Indian education heats up
India PE reported that Kaizen Management Advisors is raising a $150-200M education fund. Over the next few years we’ll see public expenditures climb from 3% to 6% and more openness to private school managers. The combo makes the market hot for private investment. Look for innovations from the bottom…
Personalized Learning
Super cheap online higher ed
Altius raised $8M from Spark and Maveron. It’s an online community college that partners with 4 year colleges. This week I also talked to two new $99/mo online schools that offer GenEd courses. If colleges think they’ve got budget problems, wait until 20-30% of underclassmen are knocking off most…
Personalized Learning
California dreaming; school budget woes
This summer, we moved our venture fund to Texas and my wife and I moved back to Washington. Apparently I’m not the only one that left California this year. With high combined personal and business tax rates and an incapable Assembly, California has become a terrible place to…
Personalized Learning
Common Core will help charters & elearning
National Journal‘s question this week is on the common core. A number of commentators address the standards themselves. My response points to the benefits for charter networks and content developers. National standards will end the unintended race-to-the-bottom which disproportionately impacts college and career preparation for low income…
Project-Based Learning
Mary Oliver’s Evidence
1/19/19 Note: Mary Oliver died Thursday at her home in Florida. After more than 15 collections of poems, she had become America’s most beloved and quoted poet. in 2015, after a bout with cancer, she told Krista Tippett she had become “kinder, more people-oriented, more willing…
Personalized Learning
Rilke (and Palmer) on teaching
Ah, Not to be Cut Off Ah, not to be cut off, not through the slightest partition shut out from the law of the stars. The inner—what is it? if not…